Automatic feeder



March 4 1924.

J. A. NOLAN AUTOMATIC FEEDER Filed April 25. 1923 3 Shets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY March 4, 1924. 1,486,1o5`

J. A. NOLAN AUTOMATIC FEEDER,

Filed- April 25, 1923 3 Sheets-She'eg, 2

' Jam a Afa/m7, wm

ATTORNEY March 4 1,486,105 J. A. NOLAN AUTOMATIC FEEDER Filed April' 2S, 1923 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 is." l'

. Janie; l IVe/alf, `"wan-mn Batented Mar.. 4, 192254.

.JAMES n.. Moran, or nownasron, omo.

AUTOMATC FEEDER.

Application fled'Aprl 25, 1323.` Serial No. 634,618. Y

To all whom t may concer/t.'

Be it known that I, JAMES A. NOLAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bowerston, in the county of Harrison and State of Ohio, have invented new and-use'- ful lmprovements in Automatic Feeders, of which the. following is a specification.

This invention relates to feeders for use in mining operations, and more p articularly to what I term an automatic feeder by means of which the loaded cars can be cut out from a trip and fed onto a cage or dump. V

One of the main objects of the invention is to provide a feeder of the character stated by means of which cars may be automatically cut out fromV a trip and fed onto a dump or cage, this feeder being of very simple construction and positive in its oper;l ation. A further object is to provide simple and eicient means whereby the horns o-r stops for holding the trip of cars are closed after a predetermined number of cars have been cut out and fed onto the dump. Further objects will appear from the detailed description. V 1

In the drawings Figure 1 is a plan view of the feeder as applied; f

Figure 2 is a side view;

Figure 3 is a section taken substantially on line 3-3 of Figvl;

Figure 3a is a section taken substantially on line 3&-31 of Fig. 1;

Figure A is a section taken substantially on line 4 4 of Fig. 1;

Figure 5 is a side view and associated parts; f I v t Figure 6 is a section taken substantially on line 6-6 of Fig. 5;

Figure 7 is a section taken substantially i of the treadle Aon line 7-7 of Fig. 3;

Figure 8 is a detail of the spring means for throwing and holding the rock shaft;

Figure 9 is a fragmentaryV plan view showing the manner of applying the feeder to vertically movable cage; l j

Figure 10 is a section taken substantially on line 10--10 of Fig. 9;

Figure 11 is a fragmentary side view of the cage.v Y* .Y

In the form illustrated in Figs. 1 to 8 inclusive, the apparatus is shown as used in connection with a rotary dump A of any suitable or preferred type, this dump being provided with a track section the rails of operating shaft 1 upon which is secured a sleeve 2 carrying arms 3 connected by links 4L to fingers 5- extending from horns or stops 6 rockably mounted on rods 7 supported in bearing blocks 8 secured to the rails of appro-ach track B. Movement of horns 6 is cushioned by coil vsprings- 9 mounted about rods 7. Rocking' of shaft 1 serves to lopen' and close the horns orl stops 6, in accordance with the direction in which the shaft is rocked. This. is a well known construction in this art and need not be further described in detail. `A 4 A sleeve vv10 is securedon shaft 1 above sleeve 2 and anarm 11l projects from this sleeve substantially radially of the shaft. A counter shaft 12 is rotatably mounted above and-transversely of shaft 1 in suitable hangers depending from the rails of y the approach track. y A sleeve 13 is secured on this counter shaft and carries two arms 141 disposed diametrically of shaft 12. AAn operating wheel 15 is secured on oneend of Shaft 12, this wheel lbeing provided with a plurality'of similarlyhdirected teeth or points 16 which are-disposed to be engaged by a gravity pawl 17 pivoted at its upper end, at 18, on a treadle 19, movement of this pawl in either direct-ion being limited by a keeper 20 secured to the outer face of treadle 19. Treadle 19 is Vof L-shape in cross-section and is supported by arms 2-1 pivoted at their upper ends to the treadle, these arms being rockably mounted, at their lower ends, on bolts 22 Vsecured through sleeves 28 lsecured to the base of the adjacent rail o of the approach track. This rail has its tread portion cut out to provide a recess 24 for reception of the upper hori- Zontal ange or arm 19a of treadle 19. A tension spring 25 is secured at one end, at 26, to the upper end of arm 21, the other end of thisspring being secured to a plate 27 which is secured to the base of rail b. This spring .acts to normally hold the treadle 19 in raised position. At its lower edge treadle 19 is provided with recesses or cut-outs 28 which are positioned to fit about sleeve 21a at the lower end of the lower arm 21 and about counter shaft 12 to permit treadle 19 to be depressed to its fullest eX- tent. then the treadle is depressed pawl 17 engages beneath one of the points '16 so -as to turn the counter shaft 12 through a quarter rotation or an arc of 90o. W hen the treadle is released it is returned to raised position by spring 25 and when the treadle is again depressed shaft 12 is again turned through another arc of 900. To prevent Vreverse rotation of shaft 12 I provide a ratchet-wheel 29 secured on counter shaft 12 and positioned adjacent to rail c, a gravity pawl 30 being` mounted on a. plate 31 secured to rail c, this pawl' being positioned to engage ratchet-wheel 29.

A trip arm 32 is secured onshaft 1 and a pin' 33 is secured in the free end of this arm and is positioned to be struck by a trip finger 34 carried by dump A. The dump is rotated in the direction indicated in Fig. 1l. VVh'en the stops 6 are closed arm 32 is inthe position illustrated in full lines in Fig. 1 so that, as the dump approaches loading position finger 34 strikes pin 33 so as Yto rock shaft 1 in clockwise direction as considered in Fig. A sufficiently to bring an arm 35 secured on the other end of shaftV 1 below the centerof the shaft. A tension spring 36 has one end secured to rail c, the other end of this spring being secured to a finger 37 which projects from the free end of arm 35. This spring is so positioned that, as soon as arm 35 is moved below or above Lthe center of shaft 1, spring 36 acts to complete the throw or turning yof shaft 1 and to hold the shaft in rocked adjustment. yThis will be clear from Fig. 8 in which the position of the spring and associated parts when shaft 1 has been turned half way from one extreme position to the other is .illustrated in full lines, the relative positions of the parts when the shaft has been turned into its extreme position in either position being indicated by dotted lines. This fea-- ture is fully disclosed in my Patent.1,337,91tt issued April 20th 1920 for a mine car cager. i/Vhen arm 32 is swung into the dotted line position in Fig. d, pin 33 is positioned above linger 341 so that there is no interference between this pin and the finger upon further rotation of the dump.

When the dump A returns to loading position after an overturning operation, shaft 1 is rocked into position to open stops 6.

This releases the trip of loaded cars which was held on the approach track by the stops during Vthe dumping operation, permittingV this trip to move forwardly so as to feed the cars onto the dump, the entering loaded cars serving to push Volf of the dump the empty cars. As will be understood, dump A is provided with any suitable or preferred means for stopping and holding the loaded cars after the empty cars have passed out of the exit end of the dump.y When stops 6 are opened the trip moves forwardly. As the trip moves forwardly treadle 19 is depressed, it being understood that the length of the treadle corresponds to the length of the wheel base of the cars used. When the treadle is depressed pawl 17 engages one of the points 16 of wheelV 15 so as to turn counter shaft 12 through a quarter rotation. It should be noted that, when the horns 6 are open, arm 11 is in approximately horizontal position (Figs. 3 and 3a). W hen the treadle has been depressed once the Vupper one of the arms 14 is brought into positionto overlap arm 11. TWhen a second car passes over treadle 19 so as to again depress the treadle, counter shaft 12 is turned through another quarter rotation, arm 14C depressing arm 11 so as to turn shaft 1 in the opposite direction i a sufiicient distance to bring arm 35 above center, the throw ofthe shaft being completed by spring 36 in the manner previously described. This serves to move arm 11 downwardly out of the path of movement of arms 1A, as indicated in Figs. 3 and 3a thus permitting the shaft 12 to be turned through its second complete quarter rotation. This rocking of shaft 1 also serves to close stops 6, returning trip arm 32 to its initial position illustrated in Figs. 1 and 4. In this manner two loaded cars are cut out of the trip and fed onto dump A, after which the stops 6 are closed and the dump is again returned into dumping position, shaft l being rocked in stop-opening direction, in the manner previously described, upon return of the dump to loading position after an overturning operation. This provides rsimple and eiiicient means whereby the cars may be fed onto the dump, the apparatus being automatic in operation. By positioning the stops G closely adjacentto the dump the cars have but little distance to travel before entering the dump thus effecting a material saving in time in the feeding operation which is of material importance. fn certain cases it may be found desirable to employ, in addition to the stops 6, an upper pair of stops connected to shaft 1 so as to be operated thereby7 this upper set being oppositely related to stops 6. This constitutes an obvious variation of the apparatus and it is not thought necessary to further describe or illustrate this modification'. `While I have illustrated and described the apparatus as used for feeding two cars onto the dump, by providing four arms 14 it may be readily adapted to feed the cars singly or, by employing butone arm four cars may be fed at a time. It will be obvious that by varying the points or fingers 16 of wheel 15 and changing the number of arms 14- employed, the apparatus can be adapted to feed any number of cars desired and can be readily adapted to suit unusual conditions.

In Figs. 9, 10 and ll I have illustrated the manner in which the apparatus can be used with a vertically movable cage. In this case shaft 1 is provided with a trip arm 32a having an outer or nose portion 32 which is pivotally secured at 38 to the body portion of the arm, downward movement of portion 32h being positively limited. Cage C is provided with a depending trip finger C positioned to strike nose 32h of arm 32 as the cage is lowered into loading position, thus rocking shaft l in direction to open stops 6. Jlifter the cage reaches loading position and the proper number of loaded cars have been fed onto the cage, shaft l is rocked in the opposite direction to close the stops. `When the shaft is in this position arm 32 will be in the position indicated by dotted lines in Fig. l0. IVhen the cage is raised trip arm C will raise nose 32D, slightly, the nose passing off of arm C as upward movement of the cage continues and being returned to operative position by gravity. I/Vhen the cage is again lowered arm C will strike nose 32 so as to rock shaft l in stop-opening direction in the manner previously described. By these means the apparatus can be readily adapted for feeding to vertically moving cages, hoists, etc. As will be understood, while I have illustrated and described the apparatus as used for a rotary dump and for a vertically moveable cage, it will be understood that it can be used in connection with dumps, cages, and hoists of various types and I do not intend to in any way limit myself to using the apparatus in connection with a rotary dump and a vertically movable cage only.

i. In combination with a dump and an approach. track leading thereto, stops on the approach track, a rock shaft, connections between said shaft and the stops for opening and closing the latter in accordance with rocking of the shaft, means for rocking the shaft in stop-opening direction as the dump returns to loading position, and car actuated means on the approach track operated to a predetermined extent by each car traveling apast said car actuated means toward the dump, said car actuated means acting after it has been successively operated a predetermined number of times to rock said shaft in stop-closing direction.

In combination with a dumpV and an approach track leading thereto, stops on the approach track, a rock shaft, connections between said shaft and the stops for opening and closing the latter in accordance with rocking of the shaft, dump actuated .ieans for rocking the shaft in stop-opening direction as the dump returns to loading position, and car actuated means on the approach track above the dump operated to a predetermined extent by each car traveling apast said car actuated means toward the dump, said car actuated means acting after it has been successively operated 'a predetermined number of times to rock said shaft in stop-closing direction.

3. In combination with a dump and an approach track leading thereto, an operating shaft rockably mounted on said track, stops mounted on the track, connections between said stops and the shaft for opening and closing the stops in accordance with rocking of the shaft, dump actuated means for rocking theshaft in stop-opening direction as the dump returns to loading position, a treadle on the approach track above the stops positioned to be depressed by a car, and means actuated by the treadle for rocking the shaft in stop closing direction when a predetermined number of cars have been fed from above the stops onto the dump.

4. In combination with a dump and an approach track leading thereto, a rockably mounted operating shaft, stops mounted on the track, connections between said stops and the shaft for closing and opening the stops in accordance with rocking of said shaft, means for rocking the shaft in stopopening direction as the dump returns to loading position, a rotatably mounted counter shaft, co-operating members carried by the operating shaft and said counter shaft for turning the operating shaft in stop-closing direction when theY counter shaft is turned a. predetermined distance in one direction, and car actuated means for turning said counter shaft a predetermined distance for each car which is fed from above the. stops tothe dump.

5. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination with an approach track, a rockably mounted operating shaft, stops on the track, connections between the stops and said shaft for opening and closing said stops in accordance with rocking of the shaft, an arm projecting from the shaft, a rotatably mounted counter shaft, arms projecting from the counter shaft, the arm on the operating shaft being positioned to be struck by the arms 0n the counter shaft when the stops are open for turning the operating shaft in stop closing direction, and can actuated means for turning the counter shaft in one direction through a predetermined distance for each car which is fed from above the stops.

6. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination with an approach track, an operating shaft rockably mountedv on said track, stops mounted on the track, connections between said stops and the shaft for closing and opening the stops in accordance with rocking of said shaft, an arm projecting from the shaft, a counter shaft rotatably mounted to be turned in one direction, arms secured on said counter shaft, the arm on the operating shaft being disposed to be struck by the arms on the counter shaft, When the stops are open to turn the operating shaft in stop-closing direction, meansy for rocking the operating shaft in stop-opening direction, means for complet-k ing rocking of the operating shaft in either direction, a treadle mounted on the approach track to be depressed by a car passing over the same, means for normally holding` said treadle raised, and means for turning the counter shaft through a predetermined distance When the treadle is depressed.

In testimony whereof I afiX my signature.

JAMES A. NOLAN. 

